Champion One Tonner, Rainbow II, gets a new life in Auckland

Top yachtsman, Chris Bouzaid, updates on the restoration of Rainbow II, currently underway at Silverdale, north of Auckland.

Rainbow II was the iconic yacht of New Zealand sailing in the 1960's, leading the way for the many successful international campaigns that followed. She started the model of using international race competition to spearhead the products and expertise of the NZ marine industry.

He writes:

The restoration of Rainbow II is progressing well at Wayne Olsen’s Horizon Boats Ltd in Silverdale, just north of Auckland, but our fundraising is lagging. If you feel like helping to put Rainbow II back in the water in full racing trim, no contribution is too big, or too small, and your donation will be fully tax-deductable.

The idea to resurrect Rainbow II was born in 2009. I was passing through Bermuda and took the time to visit the yacht that I sold to local sailor Charlie Berry immediately after she’d won the One Ton Cup and done so well in England in the Channel Race and the Fastnet Classic.

I found the old girl in bad shape and not all that far from the scrap heap.

With a couple of friends, I took her for a sail and was amazed how well she still slid along, especially in the light air.

Unfortunately, the breeze increased during the day, and so did the volume of water coming in through the garboard planks. We were pretty lucky to get back to the mooring without drowning the engine.

I made the decision there and then that this was not a fitting end for a yacht that had inspired so much and so many. She had to be brought home to Auckland.

A few quick phone calls to friends in New Zealand and Monaco produced some very generous offers of both financial and physical help. So, I bought back Rainbow II from Jeremy Brasier and pretty soon, with the help of the Maersk Line, she was on her way home to the Waitemata Harbour.

The original concept was to put Rainbow II back into presentable shape and donate her for public display in the Voyager National Maritime Museum. That idea was modified in June last year when it emerged that there was a lot of interest in Rainbow having another romp around the harbour with as many of the original crew as could still come sailing. Before she was retired to a museum. So, what was going to be a quick lick became a tad more complicated.

Last October this all changed again. Over a few beers at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, it was suggested by Alan Sefton that we should see if there is any interest in having a rerun of the old One Ton Cups in Auckland around the time of the 2014/15 Volvo Ocean Race stopover in 2015.

An announcement was made seeking 'Expressions of Interest'. The international response – 28 from 9 different countries – was good enough for the RNZYS to commit to formal planning and a Notice of Race for a 'One Ton Revisited' regatta was published and disseminated the in March this year.

Rainbow’s 'quick lick' now became a full restoration to enable her to go racing again.

The goal is to raise enough money to complete the restoration and have a small endowment to cover on-going maintenance when Rainbow goes on permanent public display, possibly as part of the marine heritage centre that is proposed for the iconic Percy Vos Boatshed in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter.

The target is to have all work completed by the end of August, 2014, with Rainbow re-launched at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s Westhaven clubrooms in mid-September, 2014.

The works team on the job are Wayne Olsen himself and the amazingly resourceful Mike Smith.

Chris Bouzaid checks Rainbow II - May 2014

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The invaluable volunteer helpers include Max Carter, the man who built Rainbow II back in 1966, John 'Bulldog' Street, Tony 'Womble' Barclay, and Roy 'Rocket' Dickson.

A growing list of equipment is being donated, to ensure that Rainbow II lacks for nothing when she goes to the race start line again in the One Ton Revisited regatta in Auckland next February/March.

I will include a full list of these suppliers in my next update, along with a similar list of all donors that allow us to publicly acknowledge their generosity.

Remember, all donations will be tax deductible and will only be applied to the restoration and maintenance of Rainbow II. Clearly identified as for Rainbow II, they can be made to.-

When we set out to build Rainbow II in 1966, for weight purposes we opted for a single skin of kauri with glued splines between the planks (instead of caulking). It is amazing how well she has stood the test of time, considering that the S&S 36-footer was raced very hard in the first three years of her life (she won the Whangarei-Noumea race in April, 1967, the Sydney-Hobart classic in December, 1967, finished second (1968) and then first (1969) in the One Ton Cup in Heligoland, and then, in August 1969, won the 245-mile Channel Race and finished first in her class in the 605-mile Fastnet Classic).

Once Horizon Boats had water blasted Rainbow’s exterior, they found a very small amount of rot in the marine ply deck but none at all in the hull – testimony to the qualities of the wonderful Kauri and to the boatbuilding skills of Max Carter.

Rainbow II enters the shed at Horizon Boats - May 2014

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The exterior of the hull has since been fibreglassed and will now be prepped, undercoated and brought up to finish-coat standard. All deck hardware has been removed, for refurbishment or if needs be replacement, while deck and cockpit are fibreglassed and repainted with anti-skid. The cabin top and teak toe rail are being reinstated and coamings scraped right back and re-varnished. The interior, meanwhile, has been sand-blasted prior to prep and repaint. New floors are in as is a new mast step. The original bunks will be restored while galley and navigatorium have been refurbished.

Still to come is a new engine box (the engine itself has been fully reconditioned and repainted) and new toilet. All wiring will be renewed, as will the two batteries and engine start panel. There will also be new deck and navigation lights and a new performance electronics package.

When all the work is done, Rainbow II will be as close to original as we can make her with boatbuilder Olsen confident that she will stronger than she’s ever been.

It’s now approaching 50 years since Rainbow II’s ocean race win in the 1969 One Ton Cup shared equal front page billing in the Auckland Star evening newspaper with Neil Armstrong landing on the moon ('One Small Step For Man' on the left and 'Rainbow Wins Battle Of Jutland' on the right) so it is easy to forget the impact she made on the New Zealand public.

Heck – she even had her picture on the lid of the Arnotts Biscuits tin - a distinction usually reserved for racehorses in those days.

I take a lot of pride in the fact that people in a position to judge these things claim that Rainbow II’s feats in the late 1960s, backing up Jim Davern’s 1966 line honours win, in Fidelis, in the Sydney-Hobart, are credited with launching the New Zealand invasion of ocean racing which, in the next 40 years, resulted in Kiwi designed boats and crews winning every major event in world offshore racing, most of them more than once.

That includes the Whitbread Round the World race, the Trophee Jules Verne and the America’s Cup, all three Ton Cups (Quarter, Half and One), plus the Admiral’s Cup, Southern Cross Cup and Kenwood (nee Clipper) Cups.

That domination of the sport extended to yacht design, boatbuilding, and the design and construction of rigs and sails.

Quite astonishing when you consider: New Zealand’s population was only 2.8 million when Rainbow won the One Ton Cup in 1969; 2.89 million when Pathfinder, Runaway and Wai-Aniwa finished first, second and third in the Sydney-Hobart classic to clinch the 1971 Southern Cross Cup; just 3.3 million when, in 1987, Propaganda, Kiwi and Goldcorp won the 1987 Admiral’s Cup; 3.36 million when Steinlager II won all six legs of the Whitbread Round the World race (on line and on handicap); and just 3.6 million when, in 1995, 'Black Magic' (NZL 32) won the America’s Cup.

Now – is that punching ‘way above your weight??

From left – John Street, Wayne Olsen and Chris Bouzaid at Horizon Boats - with Rainbow II - May 2014

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The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) and its members have been integral to most of that phenomenal success (and one should never forget either the important part played by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club).

Rainbow’s 1968 challenge for the One Ton Cup in Heligoland was a first for the Squadron that, for the most part, in those days was content to organise racing for its magnificent fleet of harbour and gulf racers. The challenge in Germany was championed by Commodore Bruce Marler and senior club member Arnold Baldwin. What visionaries they proved to be.

We managed to raise, mostly from club members, almost £20,000 – an awful lot of money in those days. From the acorn of those small beginnings, a very large oak tree sprouted, and - look where look where it has led the Squadron. There is no yacht club in the world that has as much recognition for its successful campaigns, and no other yacht club has won as many international regattas.

I want to thank all of you who have helped us get this far. It has been a journey with lots of memories and old friends coming out of the woodwork in all parts of the world. And, it would appear that the old Rainbow magic is still a factor. Even though we have kept fairly quiet about the Rainbow II restoration, a steady flow of interested parties find their way to Horizon Boats to check on progress - no easy task because the yard is well tucked away in a district north of Auckland that is only now beginning to make its way on to the GPS maps.

The modern era of the One Ton Cup started with yachts designed to the RORC Rule (1964 to
1969 - the Rainbow II era). Then the newly formulated International Offshore Rule (IOR) was introduced and, from 1970 to 1980, all competitors were designed and built to that rule. (the Wai-Aniwa era). During those two periods, the average Joe could afford to build, own and campaign a One Tonner. Then costs began to spiral and today you would not get much for the money you managed to scrape together for a whole campaign in days gone by, and this has had a serious impact on international competition. Maybe the old days weren’t so bad and maybe that’s why the idea for a One Ton Revisited regatta next year is proving so popular.

To all overseas yachties reading this – come join us for One Ton Revisited 2015 and enjoy the racing and hospitality of a country in which offshore racing looms so large in the national psyche.

Good and happy sailing

Chris

Go Rainbow Go

Rainbow II goes into action soon after the start of Race 4 in the 1969 One Ton Cup off Heligoland, Germany. The large overlapping genoa and small main were encouraged by the rating rule of the time.

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Rainbow II crossing the line in the fifth and final race of the 1969 One Ton Cup to take the premier individual trophy of ocean racing